BARELY two weeks after the launch of his debut album, Joseph D’Angelo, found himself in the music studio strumming some random chords on his guitar and ended up writing what would become one of the first tracks of his upcoming release.

The JD & The Critics frontman describes ‘Rock, Rock, Rock, My Pretty Girl’ as “super-nostalgic” before going on to explain how the music of the 50s, 60s and 70s is what makes this talented Canadian musician the happiest.

“I think true rock and roll will make you drive a little faster, make you work out a little bit harder, make love a little bit more passionately… It’s something that when it comes on, it’s different from any other type of music and I really identified with the music of that genre when I was growing up.”

On his debut album, released in 2018, tracks such as ‘Me and My New Ride’ and ‘Hey, Did You See That Girl’ are the songs that Joseph D’Angelo admits to really enjoying listening to and the impromptu penning of ‘Rock, Rock, Rock, My Pretty Girl’ paved the way for a style and feel he was keen to adopt throughout his new album, ‘Freedom’.

D’Angelo is a gifted artist and modest wordsmith who casually downplays his ability to weave a good tale in under three minutes and 40 seconds. He’s a storyteller with a captivating voice that seems to ebb and flow with a style and depth befitting someone much more seasoned on the music scene.

Having first discovered JD & The Critics by chance in early 2018, I was instantly drawn in by the variety of styles and tempos on the ‘Me and My New Ride’ album. It’s not often one discovers an artist with such diverse talent and a truly, distinctive, ear-catching sound that makes you switch your playlist to ‘repeat’ as opposed to ‘shuffle’.

Joseph D’Angelo has talent. Bags of the stuff. And energy. Lots and lots of energy. Fuelled by a creative thirst that shows no sign of being sated any time soon.

There’s no mistaking the passion in his voice as he recounts memories of recording the first album and lessons he’s learned in such a short slip of time. Lessons, which have helped him grow as a songwriter, musician and producer. He has the determination and daring to try new things, to experiment with sounds – evidenced best on ‘I’m So Ruined’ which has an intro reminiscent of the Black Keys circa 2011 from their El Camino album.

Similarly, ‘Biker With No Name’, is a prime example of D’Angelo’s mastery of song lyrics and storytelling, coupled with a heavy baseline thanks to guitarist, Joe Conz. “It’s about this outlaw biker who looks like the coldest, meanest guy that ever existed, but by the end of the song you realise he was in love once and the girl got taken away and that’s why he is what he is.”

Listening to the way he describes the story it’s easy to see why he’s keen to create music akin to mini-movies for the ears. Music has the ability to transport anyone, anywhere in our memory palace – happy, sad and everywhere in between – and it’s something JD & The Critics has achieved with this new album.

The Herald:

D’Angelo freely admits, rather proudly, that he only took guitar lessons long enough to learn to write music, but has been evolving as a musician ever since, having also taught himself how to play the piano.

The first release from the new album, ‘She Knows’, is out on April 1 and D’Angelo stretches himself vocally on this one: “The way I sing this song is a lot different from my normal style of singing where I’m trying to extend my range. I would love to push it as far as I can and see where it goes.

“I don’t think I want to stick to any one type of exact style, but I really want to bring that old feeling of toe-tapping rock and roll back.”

And he does.

The video for the new release, ‘She Knows’, is a stunning cinematic experience that really captures the style of the song, and heavy base-lined tracks like, ‘I’m So Ruined’, are sure to be crowd-pleasing showstoppers when JD & The Critics start playing live gigs. Which I’ve been assured they will, once ‘Freedom’ drops this summer.

D’Angelo embraces criticism like a warm blanket and settles into it, accepting it for what it is – an opinion: “When you try different things and you try different sounds and people can’t classify you, I think that’s when you know you’re winning. People love it and they don’t know why, I think that’s what you want to achieve.

“At the end of the day, music is like painting a painting, you never wanna be judged by individual brushstrokes, you want people to step back and look at it as a whole thing and when they see the whole picture for what it is then I think they can truly appreciate it.

“I think with music that’s definitely true, if you just zone out and listen to the whole thing, not just the guy’s voice, not just the cool guitar riff, not just how the drummer’s carrying the beat, but the whole song as a whole, I think that’s when you get inspired and I think the people that listen to music that way are the ones that tale the most away from it.”

This balanced, philosophical outlook is what sets D’Angelo apart from other musicians. His articulate descriptions of his whole creative process is as captivating as it is intriguing and that resonates throughout, ‘Freedom’.

“I don’t want to be afraid to try new things. I don’t want to stick to one formula. I really want to see how far I can go.”

So do we Joseph, so do we.

The single, 'She Knows', is out now.

The album, 'Freedom', will be released in summer 2019.

For news and updates, follow JD & The Critics on TWITTER or visit their website HERE